


Yellow's Visit

by Zygella



Series: Diamond Visits [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Steven loves yellow after everything bye, post BOHAM
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:13:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17556632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zygella/pseuds/Zygella
Summary: Yellow's solo visit to Earth for Steven.





	Yellow's Visit

**Author's Note:**

> I don't see enough diamond content and it disappoints me because I NEED IT.

"He's not here right now."

 

Yellow Diamond cocked an eyebrow at the permafusion in front of her. She had just landed her hand ship, she hadn't even gotten to Steven's house yet. She mentally noted that the Sapphire part of his friend must be very keen to rely on Future Vision for just about everything.

 

"I see... would you perhaps know where I could find him?" The yellow gem inquired.

 

The permafusion- Garnet, Steven would never stop telling her the name every time she failed to use it- was silent for a few moments, then responded.

 

"He's... in the Prime Kindergarten?" She sounded surprised and confused.

 

Yellow was curious. By the response, it would seem that being there was not a usual thing for the hybrid creature. It was most likely that that place was dead and barren anyways. Nevertheless, she was here to visit him. He was the... son of Pink Diamond after all. He'd done so much for Homeworld already. It was foolish to deny a fondness of the child.

 

"I'll go find him then."

 

Without another word, Garnet simply pointed to the hand of the statue built into the side of the cliff. She saw a warp pad there. Yellow sighed. Of course. Everything was so small here.

 

"You wouldn't fit in the house. And you'd refuse to shape-shift smaller. I've seen it already." Garnet said, then turned to walk to the temple.

 

Yellow sighed, rubbing her eyes with two fingers. She then walked as carefully as possible (Steven had once informed her that her steps shook the ground- she made it a personal goal not to cause such quakes in the future) to the warp pad. Standing precariously on the very fragile looking statue, she warped away as quickly as possible.

 

Once she arrived, she did not immediately see him. However, she did take in the surrounding area. Gloomy, covered in fog. She grimaced at the air. Everything here felt so hopeless and despondent. Why in the stars would Steven choose to come here?

 

As she walked (softly!) she began to hear a faint noise. A plucking sound, something akin to music, and a voice.

 

_"Familiar, it was all so familiar... familiar, like something I used to know..."_

 

It was Steven's voice. Yellow didn't think she'd ever heard him sing before. It was smooth and calming, in a way. She followed it.

 

_"Familiar, staring up at the ceiling... familiar, swearing I knew the feeling..."_

 

She wondered what this particular song was about. She walked to a large opening, finding a hole in the ground. His singing was coming from inside. Why was he in the main control area?

 

_"Everyone expected me to be my mom... that everything I did, I did it wrong..."_

 

Yellow stopped her descent for a moment at that line, a pang of guilt washing through her. He was right, unfortunately. Everyone on Homeworld had been expecting Pink Diamond. Now she knew, they knew, that Steven wasn't her. He was his own person. His own Gem.

 

_"And I'd sway them with a joke, or with a song... eventually it helped us get along…_

_Familiar, oh it was so familiar... familiar, like something I used to do…_

_Familiar, she used to throw her tantrums... now I insist, 'hey I'm a diamond too'..."_

 

Her eyes widened. He was singing about... them? Pink, and Homeworld?

 

_"She must have drove them crazy all the time... they loved her but she left them all behind…_

_with more important places she could be... on her way finding a new family..."_

 

Yellow reached the bottom, managing not to make any noise. She wanted to hear his entire song. She wanted to know. In the middle of the main control area, she saw him sitting, facing the broken screen, his back turned to her.

 

_"Familiar, that's why it's so familiar! Familiar, like someone I continue to be!_

_Familiar, and this time I had some practice, and helped out my struggling family!_

_Oh, I gathered them together in one place, and once we were all face to face,_

_I showed them all the error of their ways, and fixed their broken rule across space!"_

 

The strumming came to a stop, and so did his singing. Yellow stood there, completely stunned. She almost thought she felt a small tear running down her cheek, but that was absurd…

 

"Oh! Hi Yellow!" Steven had turned around and spotted the giant gem standing there. "I didn't know you were visiting today... how did you find me?"

 

"Your friend Garnet." She replied curtly, wincing a bit at her sharp tone.

 

He tilted his head. "Ah. Future Vision. Do you... maybe want to sit with me?"

 

The diamond obliged, stepping carefully to the middle and lowering himself to sit next to him. She noticed a strange object he was holding. She assumed it was the source of the musical noises accompanying him when he was singing. "What would you... call the thing you're holding?"

 

He perked up. "Oh! This is my ukulele! It's a musical instrument. See here, you strum the strings, and it'll make different sounds. My dad has a guitar, which I can sort of play, but I'm much more comfortable with this. Um... how much of my song did you hear?"

 

Yellow found herself nervous. Had he been upset by the idea of her listening in? "I think... all of it. It was... nice."

 

Steven beamed at the giant gem next to him. “Thank you, Yellow! That’s a very sweet thing to say. I’m proud of you for getting this far!”

 

Yellow suddenly felt flustered at his words. She broke eye contact, looking away while clearing his throat. “Th-thank you, Steven.”

 

Steven began to absentmindedly strum his ukulele, this time not tied to any particular song. His wide smile dropped and turned more to a wistful one. “You know, I don’t usually come here. This place… I know there’s nothing I can do to fix it. No matter how much I may want to.”

 

Yellow blinked curiously at the boy, wondering where he was going with this. It was clear he had some rather strong emotions about this place. So what was his reason for coming here, somewhere that makes him upset?

 

“But, you know, I tried once before. Peridot, Amethyst, and I, we tried planting flowers here. We did our best, and our hopes were high, but… it didn’t work. Nothing can ever grow here again. And it still sucks. Yet, I’m glad for it. Even though we failed, we tried, and that’s what matters. This place wasn’t my mess, it never was. I never did this. That was my mom. Back when we tried, I still thought I had to be her. And I think, back then, I even blamed myself for the Kindergarten. It was my error. This place gives me another reason to be content, in a twisted way. Knowing that my mom and I aren’t the same. Yes, she regretted what she did, in the end, but I don’t think she ever tried to fix this place.”

 

He paused for a moment, strumming slowing to a stop. He turned his head and looked at Yellow. “Everyone wanted me to be her. And I think… that pressure was what really got to me. But now, after what happened on Homeworld… I know now that I’m me. I’ll always be me, not her. She’s not coming back, and I won’t feel guilty anymore for existing. I know I am the reason she’s not here anymore. I think everyone blamed me, even if they didn’t say it. But I’m not sorry. Not anymore.”

 

He looked down again at his ukulele, and began a new song.

 

_“I don’t need you to respect me, I respect me._

_I don’t need you to love me, I love me._

_But I want you to know you could know me,_

_if you change your mind,_

_If you change your mind,_

_If you change your mind,_

_Change your mind…”_

 

Yellow’s chest tightened. She felt his raw emotion in each word, in each wishful strum of his ukulele. It hurt her, to know that he felt this way. That he had to go through any of this. She was sorry… so sorry…

 

“Yellow?” Steven asked, tone filled with concern.

 

She ran a finger across her face; she was crying. She was… crying. Blue was nowhere near here for her to blame her in an attempt to save face. Her hands shook slightly with eons old anguish escaping now, at this very moment. “Steven…” She managed to choke out before succumbing to the tears.

 

Steven got up and positioned himself practically in her hand as she struggled to keep her emotions at bay. He sighed, but gave her a smile anyways. “I know you miss her too. Everybody still does, no matter what they might say. I don’t judge you for it either. It’s okay to cry, Yellow. I’m always going to be here for you if you need to talk. Blue is too. And maybe White and the Crystal Gems.”

 

She took a watery gasp at this comment. She couldn’t stop her tears from falling anymore, and they slid down her cheeks, like rivers newly revived after being dry for years. Then she did something Steven never expected her to do- she glowed brightly for a moment, then she _shrank._ She shape-shifted to as small as her gem could allow, settling on a size that seemed identical to Opal’s height. Her gem was giant compared to her body and looked ridiculous, but he didn’t get to say anything before he was tackled in a hug by the smaller Yellow.

 

Steven returned the hug with a knowing sigh. He tried his best to comfort her as she silently cried, but he could feel the tears wet his shirt. He didn’t care about that at this point; he only cared about helping his family. Even if the only way she could open up was to hide her face.

 

_“I don’t expect you to respect me, I’ll still respect you._

_I don’t expect you to love me, but I’ll still love you._

_But I want you to know that you saved me,_

_Made me change my mind,_

_Made me change my mind,_

_Made me change my mind,_

_Change my mind…”_

 

He smiled brightly and hugged tighter. She would be okay. They would be okay.

 

Nothing could change his mind on that.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Deadass I was listening to Change Your Mind on repeat the entire time and I was fucking crying I am not okay!!!!!
> 
> Also I wrote the different Familiar lyrics because.... I have no control over my life help me.


End file.
